I was pleased to attend last week the launch of a new report by Green Alliance, the environmental think tank, entitled ‘Reinventing the wheel: a circular economy for resource security’. By sponsoring the creation of this thoughtful and timely report SITA UK helps lift the issues surrounding how we can best facilitate an improvement in resource efficiency.

I have been consistent with my messages over the past two years related to the inertia of waste planning decisions, the desperate need to find new sources of energy and the role that energy-from-waste could play in bridging the energy gap.

The world is waking up to the realisation of the need for resource efficiency. With Government highlighting the short and medium term risk of sustaining the UK economy due to dwindling and ever more expensive raw materials in its National Security Strategy 2010, our ability to adapt to these new constrictions will determine if we can ever achieve real sustainable

There is a tendency in the UK to abdicate responsibility and wait for someone else to fix the problem. This is particularly evident in the arena of wasted resources. Every year our nation disposes of 8.3 million tonnes of food and an estimated £12 billion worth of drinks.